Rebel Heart by Christine Young

where the air was clean and people said what they thought and did as they pleased. Victoria DeMontville would feel at home here.

 
    The music rose to a crescendo and the dancers swirled frantically, skirts billowing and hips swaying. Dancers, with haunting moves and beguiling steps, beckoned.

 
    Leaning on the windowsill, the night breeze caressing his skin, Cameron closed his eyes and felt the pulse of the mountains. The exhaustion of the long day faded from him. He had a consecrated responsibility, a vow made to himself that he would uphold.

 
    And he held very special feelings for these people of the mountains. Here in this land he had grown to adulthood, had run wild and free with the wind and the rivers. The Outsiders were often cold and ruthless, yet they had learned the laws of nature and of survival the hard way. Many had died because they had accepted when they should have challenged, had relaxed when they should have persevered.

 
    Nothing in the mountains could be taken for granted, especially not a life. Cameron had studied the old archives years ago when he was still in school, fascinated by the old folklore and the tales passed down through generations. He had learned a great deal from the dusty computer discs and the archaic books stored lovingly by one old woman. Sometimes it seemed these 'barbarians' respected and loved life more than the people of the City who were always running from it. In the cities, all these years after the war, people still trembled at the mention of diseases, yet they did nothing to help themselves.

 
    Until the last decade, no diseases infiltrated the cities, but these were turbulent times. Thieftaker and thief joined forces and catapulted the cities into chaos with their threats. Despite his efforts and those of the coalition, corruption and greed still ran rampant because a thief could always find someone who had the money to pay. Germ warfare, they called it in the old days, a past long forgotten by most everyone. Thieves stole viruses or bacterium from the control center and held them ransom.

 
    "Cameron?"

 
    A soft whisper aroused him, and he turned. Zaria had opened the door and stood there now with her hands clasped behind her. She was one of the technicians assigned to him and had studied extensively in one of the medical villages in the southern valleys.

 
    Zaria had spent her life acquiring the new learning. She worked with diligence and a patience he did not possess himself. During the long afternoon of moving then sorting and cataloging his equipment, he learned much about her.

 
    She was very pretty with her short-cropped hair, large brown eyes, and swirling skirt of deepest blue. The peasant blouse dropped far enough off her shoulder to tempt him and thin enough he could see the dark aureoles of her breasts as well as her nipples.

 
    "Yes?"

 
    She moved across the room to the window then rested a shoulder against the wall. "Tonight?" The question hung on the night air, sultry and provocative, temptingly irresistible.

 
    For a scant second, the thought of refusal crossed his mind, but Zaria and some of the girls had left no doubts about their willingness. "What's wrong with now," he teased gently, but she smiled and stepped back.

 
    "Drake wants to see you...as soon as you're settled. He sent me to tell you. He expects you in his office. Something has happened. Something to change all plans. He is upset, angry. And he is not easy to deal with when he is angry."

 
    "Well, he's not angry with me." He turned toward the door, his senses heightened.

 
    If someone had come from the west, he might well have brought information about the spread of the virus. A sudden chill touched Cameron's heart. Yet he was so close to the truth. He couldn't wait until his equipment was operational again.

 
    "Do you want me to come later?" Zaria glanced up at him.

 
    "Yes, I'd..." Cameron paused, wondering just what was going on with Drake. It might be a late